The Better of Two Evils
by Little Suzi
Summary: VP Yaoi - Piccolo muses on his life thus far, and considers his relationship to Vegeta.


Yes, I know I'm meant to be writing The Seven Year Itch, but when somone said to me yet again 'Why V/P ?' it had to be written. This fic pretty much explains why I think Piccolo and Vegeta belong together. Yaoi comes at the end. Enjoy.

_The Better of Two Evils_

The thing about time is that it passes way too quickly. Piccolo had noticed this from the moment he was born. One minute you were mastering an energy technique, the next you were teaching yourself to fly. One of Piccolo's fondest memories was when he taught himself to fly. In fact, that was probably the only memory from that period of his life that he looked back on with satisfaction. He had spent the first 8 years of his life alone, always alone. The first 3 years were full of bitterness and anger, and the next 5 saw those emotions increase tenfold. And the only moment of happiness was when he taught himself to fly. He had been very small then, the whole world had seemed so big. He had only been 3"2" instead of the mighty 6"6" Namek he was now. The world had seemed difficult to gain a strong foothold in but, with much trying and stubbornness, he had succeeded. And the rapture that he felt was indescribable! That he really could set his mind to a task, and feel good at the end of it. At the end of the day, though, that was the only happiness that he had felt throughout the early years. Then Gohan had arrived and everything had seemed okay.

But, inevitably, Gohan was going to grow-up, and change. Piccolo didn't really understand the growing-up thing. He himself had been serious and intelligent his whole life, he hadn't changed. He'd been 'grown-up' from the minute he was born. All he understood about the growing-up thing was that the people who loved you wanted to see you do it. They wanted to be there for every minute. Goku and Chi-Chi wanted to look after Gohan, and watch him grow, like they did Goten. Bulma and Vegeta watched Trunks grow, and they wanted to see Bra. Piccolo couldn't really understand that, he could only try. As far as he could see, there was nothing much to watch when it came to his family line. All of the Daimao Dynasty were adults from the moment that they hatched. Each one of his brothers were: Tambourine, Piano, Drum, Cymbal. But Piccolo could see how it was different in humans. They changed. They grew. And that was something which no parent would want to miss. Otherwise you may come home one day and find that your child is completely different to when you left them.

Piccolo had watched Bra drag Vegeta across town the other day, acting like a child. A happy little child. But, soon enough, she would become a teenager, then an adult. And Piccolo knew that Vegeta wanted to be there for every minute of it. Piccolo also knew that Bra wanted her father around too. That Piccolo could understand. There had not been one minute throughout all of his childhood when he hadn't wished that he was with his father, and his father accepted him...loved him. But Piccolo Daimao was dead, and could have never loved anyway. That was Piccolo Jr's crucial flaw, he could have emotions other than anger or hate. Which is why Daimao could never have loved him; he couldn't feel such a thing. But there was someone else. Kami. But Kami dismissed him as evil, even though he was just bitter. Piccolo never forgave Kami for not looking deeper.

In a way Piccolo had always been trapped between the two fathers that he had. Both still lived, in a way. Piccolo Daimao's thoughts, anger and bitterness inside him, polluting his soul. It had taken great effort on Piccolo's part to subdue the raging anger that his father had planted inside of him. And Kami lived within him, quite literally. Because of the fact that Piccolo wasn't technically Kami's counterpart, merely that counterpart's offspring, they could never truly be one again. So the fusion which took place between them meant that Kami was a consciousness living inside him. And Piccolo found himself to be too evil for one father, and not enough for the other. It was all very frustrating. And, add to that the fact that the Namek, Nail, lived inside him too, it was no wonder Piccolo was going through some form of an identity crisis.

But there was one who kept him sane. One person in the whole of the world who truly understood him. One person who knew why he used to maim and kill, knew how hard it was to get over evil, knew how hard it was to work through it, and still be sane when you came out the other side. Maybe they were too alike, which is why they didn't get on so well...But still, he was the one. The one who understood. The one who had experienced it himself. Vegeta.

The Saya-jin Prince had lived a life somewhat like Piccolo's own. Both started out wanting nothing more than to do their father's will, their pride and hatred being the only things supporting them. Both had very clear goals. Piccolo's to kill Goku, Vegeta's to kill Freiza. Then things started to change. Piccolo trained Gohan, and Vegeta was defeated by Goku. Both circumstances snapped something embedded deep inside the warriors. And they began to change. Things began to change. The darkness surrounding their souls began to slowly melt away, and they saw the light again. And they both joined the Earth's Special Forces, turning away from what they once were. They both lost all they once knew to this new light, and this new light blinded them, this new light which Goku gave off. It was the sunshine...or should that be _Son-_shine...which Goku gave off which saved them from themselves. And so things had changed into something which neither ever expected. Piccolo always expected to die fighting, locked in battle with everyone around, not to end up living on Kami's lookout with young Dende and Popo, with friends coming to visit him. Vegeta expected to become the strongest Saya-jin ever, and become King Vegeta II. Not be the second strongest Saya-jin, married to a human female who was just as stubborn as he was, and have two children. No, things definitely didn't turn out as expected. Maybe that's why they both identified with each other.

And yet they still couldn't talk to one-another. Either their prides or their egos got in the way of ever conducting a civilised conversation. The best they could do was some sparring match.

And sex. Which was sparring in its way.

They could never really tell each other what they were thinking and feeling. But they could show one another. The silent passion, and brutality. The ballet of pain acted out together. Neither of their lives had been easy; why should their love making be different?

Piccolo loved to feel Vegeta inside him. He loved the taste of the prince, the texture of his skin. He loved to feel the body curled up around his. It was a rapture akin to when he learnt to fly. Where learning to fly was his first joy, being with Vegeta was his ultimate. They didn't have to speak; Vegeta understood him entirely, and Piccolo understood Vegeta. The Namek knew that nothing better would ever happen to either of them. Of course, he could never tell Vegeta any of this.

They just continued their separate lives, coming together to spar and fuck. To find that piece of emotion, of history and of devotion that they shared and revel in the ecstasy of it. To just be together and feel whole. Just for a little while. Before, wordlessly, they part again because they couldn't tell each other exactly what they feel.

And that seemed sad. Nothing more could ever happen. Nothing more could ever be. Two kindred warriors, each alike in dignity, unable to speak, because of the way they are. Exactly the same.


End file.
